Meet for power supply to Bongaigaon grid

With successful generation of power from northeast's biggest gas-based thermal project of Palatana in south Tripura, officials from the Union power ministry met NE power department officials on Friday to make immediate arrangements to transmit power to Bongaigoan national grid.

The non-availability of power evacuation line beyond Silchar has created an obstacle in the commercial run of the first unit (363-MW capacity) of the project.

Officials of ONGC-Tripura Power Company Limited (OTPC) here said Palatana had produced 42 MW of power on October 22, and in two days, its power generation capacity reached to about 72 MW during test run. Very soon, the first unit of the project would be able to generate about 363 MW of power.

"Due to non-availability of power evacuation system up to Bongaigoan, the Palatana project can't produce power as per its capacity. After 120 MW, we have to put a cap on production, as the northeast load dispatch centre is yet to get the transmission nod," a top OTPC official said.

Bandh disrupts life in Tripura

The Left-ruled Tripura came to standstill following 12-hour bandh in protest against the abrupt hike in fuel prices.

All the roads in the state including Assam-Agartala National Highway No. 44 was deserted as vehicles, both private and public, went off the roads in response to the dawn to dask bandh called by the Left Front.

Few two-wheelers and private vehicles were seen plying in state capital, whereas buses and auto rickshaws avoided coming on road.

Various airlines suspended their operations till 6 pm. No flight took off or landed at the Agartala airport since this morning, official sources said.

Shops and Business establishments were closed as well as School and other educational institutions. The attendance in all government officials including Civil Secretariat was thin due to the bandh. However, no untoward incident was reported so far.

Chief Minister Manik Sarkar remarked to the UPA government’s move to hike the fuel products saying that it would only lead abrupt hike in the prices of essential commodities. Talking to reporters on Thursday, he said that the Congress led UPA government should have avoided the hike in fuel prices taking some positive steps but it did not pay heed to the request of the Left parties.